Walt Whitman HS Teacher Earns 'Distinguished' Award From Harvard Club Of LI

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — Kimberly Latko, an English teacher at Walt Whitman High School, was honored with The Harvard Club of Long Island’s Distinguished Teacher Award for 2024, the South Huntington School District announced.

She is one of just 10 teachers from all of Long Island this year to receive this award.

Latko was also the only teacher to receive the Harvard Experience Fellowship, which includes a customized visit to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts to tour the campus, experience classes, seminars, interviews with faculty, and cultural events.

The Distinguished Teacher Award honorees are nominated by current Harvard undergraduates and then selected by Harvard Club of Long Island (HCLI) board members. Latko was nominated by her former student, Walt Whitman High School’s Class of 2023 salutatorian, Zahra Choudry, who entered the South Huntington School District in 6th grade when she moved here from Pakistan with her family.

"[Choudry] is a remarkable young woman," Latko said in a news release. "And to have taken the time to think about me and have in her head things that have become valuable that she took with her from Whitman to Harvard, that alone makes me really, really proud and excited."

The purpose of the award, according to the Harvard Club of Long Island, is to give educators overdue recognition and honor teachers who transform students' lives.

Choudry said Latko was the "most amazing educator" she's ever had.

"My only regret about attending Harvard is that I could not take Ms. Latko with me," Choudry wrote in her nomination letter.

High praise for a teacher that Choudry had for only one year but credits as the person who would allow her to pursue all her aspirations at her dream school. Choudry admitted to being very STEM-focused in high school and desperately tried to avoid any English class that included creative writing. Begrudgingly, she found herself signing up for AP Language in her junior year. But in that class, Choudry said she learned from Latko how to "unjumble the thoughts in her head" and conquer her fear of creative expression.

The two stayed in touch during senior year, and Choudry looked to her former teacher to advise her through the challenging college application process.

"The way Ms. Latko taught me to understand rhetoric and the use of words changed my life," Choudry said. "I confided in Ms. Latko deeply in the admission process, letting her into the nooks and crannies of my life that I wanted to demonstrate in my essay, deeply personal topics I have yet to tell even my closest friends. Ms. Latko handled this with care, eager to help me improve constantly and reminded me to believe in myself and my abilities every step of the way."

Latko said it felt "very validating" to know that there are students of hers out there who still hear her voice in the background as they sit down to write.

"It warms my heart to know that even though the high school experience they have with me can be challenging, the outcome is something they feel was very worthwhile," Latko said. "I don't always get to see that because they leave and I trust that somewhere out there, they think to themselves, 'Wow, I really do know how to put a sentence together.'

This is one of several awards that Latko has been honored with over her 31-year teaching career at Walt Whitman High School. She is also proud to be a Whitman alumnus.

The 2024 award winners were honored at the Harvard Club of Long Island’s annual University
Relations Luncheon on March 9.